Wissahickon School Board considering best ways to make up snow days; Superintendent Clark hopes state will offer relief

Officials in the Wissahickon School District are scrambling to make up lost school days, after the recent series of winter storms, and are waiting to see if Harrisburg will help.

Superintendent Judith Clark gave an update about the district’s winter weather makeup days situation during the Feb. 10 school board meeting and said she was hoping the state would offer some relief.

“I had a proposal that I was going to bring forward tonight for consideration, until I received the weather report for Thursday and Friday of this week,” Clark said. “And [I] do not think it would be prudent at this time until we see how this week goes.”

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Clark stressed that she was not recommending using President’s Day as a school day, acknowledging the fact that a number of families already have scheduled plans for that day.

“One of the other unknowns that we don’t have right now is whether or not [Pennsylvania] Gov. [Tom] Corbett is going to excuse two of those days,” she said. “We have been working with legislators, and superintendents will be writing a letter in. And if we get that information in the next two weeks, I will bring that forward.”

Clark said she is looking at all of the remaining school days this year and was hoping to have something for the board to consider by next meeting.

President Charles McIntyre asked if Clark would be able to conduct a survey to look into possibly using spring break or other scheduled vacation days as snow makeup days. Clark said she would look into it.

Board member Tracie Walsh asked if it would be helpful for parents to write to Corbett in order to get him to consider excusing the two missed days.

“I would be happy if parents wrote to Gov. Corbett,” Clark said, laughing. “I’ll even write the letter for them.”

Walsh said she felt it would be something that a lot of parents would be interested in doing.

Clark said the district was really hopeful Corbett would excuse the days, because it was just impossible to open schools after the storm hit Feb. 5.

“There was just no way to open school those days,” she said. “It was a difficult time and we didn’t have power here, and I know our community was suffering. Plus one of the added things [was] we had trees all over the roads, so even when the schools had power, we couldn’t have gotten the buses out. It was a very difficult situation. If we get pounded again, which is what we’re hearing right now, with what’s already here, it’s going to be a real problem.”

Board member Joe Honeycutt asked if Corbett were to excuse two days from the school year, how many makeup days would remain.

“We would have to make up one day,” Clark said. “And that’s as of today. But if we [add] two more [snow] days, we’ll have to look at that.”